2/19/2015

Ricardo Hernndez
Tomomi Eguchi
Chieri Kubota
School of Plant Science
University of Arizona

LEDs as sole-source light for plants

LEDs
Solid state
Low operating
temperature
Robust
Selective spectral output
Efficiency of converting
electricity to light
(increasing).

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flux

LEDs as sole-source light for plants

Haitz and Tsao, 2011

HAITZ, R. & TSAO, J. Y. 2011. Solid-state lighting: The case 10 years after and future prospects. physica status solidi (a), 2008, 17-29.

LEDs as sole-source light for plants

With the continuous increase of light emitting diodes (LEDs) energy-to-photon
conversion efficiencies, LEDs have become a viable light source for compact
plant production under closed-type conditions.
Lamps

Photon flux /W
(mol s-1 W-1) or (mol J-1)

fluorescent

0.8-1.5*

LED (red)
LED (blue)
HPS

1.6-2.3**

1.5-1.85***

* Estimated from lumens converted to photons by factors reported by Thimijan and Heins (1983)
**Philips catalogue and Nelson and Bugbee (2013)
***Philips catalogue data for HPS lamp (600 W GreenPower)

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Plant production under closed type

systems

( Mirai Co., Ltd., Japan)

(bergearth co.,ltd., Japan)

Spectral quality for plant growth

Indoor light quality experiments demonstrated that
red light supplemented with blue light is optimum for
plant growth.
Goins G. D. et.al (1997) showed an increase in wheat shoot dry matter and Pn rate from
1% blue to 10% blue.
Matsuda R. et. al (2004) reported higher Pn rate and higher N content of rice leaves on
20% blue compared to all red LEDs.
Hyeon-Hye K. et.al (2004) showed comparable levels of stomatal conductance, and
shoot dry matter in lettuce comparing 16%B with CWF lamps.
Hogewoning S. W. et. al (2010). Concluded that 7% blue light was sufficient to prevent
any dysfunctional Pn in Cucumbers. Also they reported an increase of Pn capacity with
increasing blue ratio up to 50%.

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Objectives
Evaluate LED technology for the production of
vegetable transplants.
To evaluate different blue and red photon flux (PF)
ratios using LEDs for the production of vegetable
transplants.

Materials & methods: Treatments

Testing different BLUE:RED PF ratios providing 100 mol m-2 s-1
for 18 hours = 6.5 mol m-2 d-1 of electrical LED light.
Blue = 455 nm, Red = 661 nm

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PPF

Materials & methods: Treatments

Materials & Methods: Treatments

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Plant material and measurements

Cucumber Cumlaude
Tomato Komeett and
Beaufort

Air T (all treatments)

Canopy Air T (all treatments)
Light PPF
RH

Leaf count
Fresh mass
Dry mass
Chlorophyll
Photosynthesis
Plant height
Hypocotyl length
Epicotyl length
Stem diameter
Leaf area
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Environmental parameters
Measurement

Units

Data

Specifications

mol m-2 s-1

100

Photoperiod

hours

18 hours

Canopy Air
Temperature

24.5 0.7

8 locations, in center under the canopy

Atmospheric
moisture (RH)

55.4 9.1

One measurement point, middle of the

chamber

mol mol-1

511 159

One measurement point, middle of the

chamber

Radiation

Atmospheric CO2

5 measurements per treatment area,

performed twice during the growing cycle

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(g)

Results: Cucumber B:R PF ratio

P<0.0001

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Hernndez, R., Kubota, C. 2015 submitted: Environmental and Experimental Botany

Results: Cucumber R:B ratio

P=0.0249

Similar result with gs and chlorophyll concentration

14

Hernndez, R., Kubota, C. 2015 submitted: Environmental

and Experimental
Botany
Hogewoning
S. W. et. al (2010)

2/19/2015

Results: Cucumber R:B ratio

P<0.0001

15

Hernndez, R., Kubota, C. 2015 submitted: Environmental and Experimental Botany

Results: Cucumber R:B ratio

P<0.0001

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Hernndez, R., Kubota, C. 2015 submitted: Environmental and Experimental Botany

2/19/2015

Results: Cucumber R:B ratio

0B

10B

20B

CWF

30B

50B

75B

100B

Percent blue
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Results: Cucumber R:B ratio

10B

100B
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Discussion
Pn increased with the increased of percent blue PF
Shoot dry mass decrease with the increase of blue PF,
except for the 100% blue treatment.
10% and 100% blue had the highest growth rate

Hypocotyl length decrease with the increase of

percent blue PF, except for the 100% blue treatment.
75% blue had the shortest hypocotyl and 100% blue the
longest.

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Discussion
Pn by itself is not always a good indicator for plant
growth.

Relative Growth Rate =

Net Assimilation Rate x Leaf Area Ratio

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Tomato seedlings Komeett and Beaufort

Results: Tomato Komeett B:R PF ratio

P < 0.0001

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Results: Tomato Komeett B:R PF ratio

P < 0.0001

Results: Tomato Komeett B:R PF ratio

P < 0.0001

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Results: Tomato Komeett B:R PF ratio

P < 0.0001

Results: Tomato Komeett B:R PF ratio

CWF

0B

10B

20B(G)

30B

50B

75B

100B

Percent blue photon flux

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Discussion: Tomato Komeett B:R PF ratio

Hypocotyl length : decreased with the increase of %
blue PF, except for the 100% blue treatment.
75% blue had the shortest hypocotyl and 0% blue
had the longest.
Shoot dry mass : increased with the increase of %
blue PF up to 30-50% blue.
30% and 50% blue had the highest shoot dry mass.

Intumescences: Tomato B:R PF

Non-pathogenic physical
disorder, characterized by small
protrusions on leaf tissues that
become necrotic over time.
Occurs in red light-dominant
environments with little or no
UV-B light.
Beufort is a sensitive cultivar
(S. lycopersicum S.
habrochaites)

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Tomato Beaufort intumescences

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Tomato Beaufort intumescences

Tomato intumescences
Currently working on solving the issue of tomato
intumescence using light quality.
Please visit the poster and talk to Tomomi Eguchi to
see the latest update.

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Summary
Plant responses to light quality are species specific
and cultivar specific.
For cucumber R and B PF is required for proper
growth and development, using 10% B PF will be a
good compromise between plant growth and
development.
For to tomato 30-50% B PF is recommended for
optimal growth and development. Interspecific
hybrids such as Beaufort and Maxifort need
solution for intumescence development.

Summary
More crop species need to be examined from a
wide range of families relevant to CEA plant
production.
Crop species should be classified according to their
light quality sensitivity.

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Acknowledgments
Mark Kroggel (UA,
CEAC)
Tomomi Eguchi
Neal Barto (UA, CEAC)
Murat Daveci

CCS, Inc. (Kyoto, Japan)

Grafted Growers
USDA SCRI

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